The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle

Lieutenant Dan Choi, who was discharged from the army in 2009 because he “told,” removes a Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell tape from his lips.

Most of the accused chose to slink away.

The times were “full of deaths, but one of the most beautiful moments the gay community ever experienced,”68 Peter Staley later said of those years. “To be that threatened with extinction and not lay down. To stand up and fight back. The way we did it. The way we took care of ourselves and each other. The goodness we shared. The humanity we shared.

Dr. Schneidman scrutinized the Make-a-Picture-Story Tests and told Hooker, “If you showed me the protocol for thirty schizophrenics, I’d be surprised if I didn’t get twenty-eight. But to identify the homosexuals . . .” He was convinced: “Homosexuality is not a diagnostic category.”

But most serious of all, Judge Davies wrote, was that “Thompson and Sharon are a family of affinity, which ought to be accorded respect.”

By now the American Civil Liberties Union had made a 180-degree turn from the days when it declared that the government was justified in firing homosexuals because they were a threat to the nation’s security.

April 11–12, 1953, was the first time in America that a hall full of homosexuals came together for political purposes.

Matlovich was deluged with fan mail, too; his Middle America appeal cut across demographics, as was exemplified by a woman who identified herself as a very heterosexual North Dakota housewife: “You are an attractive man who is honest and explained your beliefs and stands behind them, obviously happy. You could teach my kids in school anyday [sic].

Milton Shapp